“Good morning, Richard Hand, Jr.,” said the girl.
“Howdy, Mermaid,” retorted the boy.
They looked at each other a moment and smiled. They had become chums at school on the day they discovered an uncle in common. But Hosea Hand of the Lone8 Cove7 Coast Guard Station, known as Ho Ha, was Dick Hand’s real uncle, the brother of his father, whereas he was only Mermaid’s uncle by adoption9.
“To-night’s the night,” said the boy, amicably10 offering a jawbreaker. Mermaid accepted the candy and said, with her mouth full, “I’ve unfastened most of ’em, so if the wind doesn’t blow and make them bang, they’ll be all ready for you. All you’ll have to do is unhinge them. Do you suppose you can do that?”
“Sure,” said Dick. “They’re just ordinary shutters11. Maybe a little rusted12.”
“I oiled some of them while she was up street yesterday,” the girl reassured13 him.
They were conspiring14, as a Hallowe’en prank15, to detach as many shutters as possible from Keturah Smiley’s tightly shuttered house; and particularly, the shutters were to be got off the windows of the sacred, sealed front[60] parlour. In the three years or more that Mermaid had been living with Cap’n Smiley’s sister these shutters had been unfastened but twice a year: for a few hours in spring and a few hours in fall at the time of Keturah Smiley’s semi-annual housecleaning. For six months, from spring to fall, and again for six months, from fall to spring, the front parlour and most of the other rooms of the house lay in darkness. It seemed impossible that anything, even dust, could enter there, but dust there always was when cleaning time came. At which Mermaid used to wonder greatly, and Keturah Smiley to rage.
“Where do you suppose it comes from?” the girl would ask Miss Smiley.
“I don’t know where it comes from, but I know where it’s going to,” Keturah replied, with such a savage16 accent as to make her remark almost profane17.
“Hell?” inquired Mermaid.
Miss Smiley straightened up and looked at her sternly.
“I was only asking a question,” explained Mermaid. “I wouldn’t think of saying ‘hell’ except to ask a question. But any one who says ‘hell’ is asking a big question, isn’t he, Miss Smiley?”
The funny child, as some folks in Blue Port called her, was not expressing her doubt for the first time. She had first shocked a Sunday School teacher with it. The Sunday School teacher had spoken to Keturah[61] Smiley but had regretted it immediately, for Keturah had said:
“Well, what’s the matter? Can’t you convince her there’s a hell? That’s your job! Why put it on me?”
So now when Mermaid put the general inquiry18 as to whether any one saying “hell” were not asking a big question, Keturah merely gazed at her darkly and replied:
“Most likely he’s answering one about himself.”
This tickled19 Mermaid. She renewed an old controversy20 concerning the front parlour.
“What’s the use of singing, as we do at Sunday School, ‘Let a Little Sunshine In,’ if the shutters are always fastened?” she demanded. “How can you expect me to stand up and sing, ‘There’s Sunshine in My Heart To-day,’ Miss Smiley, when there’s not even sunshine in the house?”
Keturah snorted. “My heart is not as big as my house,” she answered. “Sunshine in some people’s hearts, like sunshine in some people’s houses, would show up a good deal that would better be hidden.”
Mermaid’s blue eyes shone, even in the semi-darkness. From the very first she had liked living with her Dad’s sister, despite that sister’s dark moods and bleak21 rages, because Keturah Smiley had a gift for saying sharp, true things, and saying them so you remembered them. She had not been unkind to the girl and had even shown a certain grudging22 liking23 for[62] her as Mermaid, whether from some natural gift or from crossing blades in conversational24 fencing, developed a faculty25 for thinking her own thoughts and putting them in her own words—and more and more the right words.
They had many duels26, and Keturah Smiley did not always win them. She early found in the child a streak27 of obstinacy28 as pronounced as her own. When Mermaid was convinced of her right Keturah might be able to silence her, but she would not be able to move her. And sometimes, to her dumb astonishment29, Miss Smiley found herself giving ground.
She had had to yield in quite a number of instances. When the eight-year-old girl had come to live in Blue Port she had refused to sleep with Miss Smiley, and Keturah had been forced to open a small bedroom for her after the night when the child had run out of the house and fastened herself in the woodshed. Mermaid had declined to walk two miles in the noon recess30 of school and Keturah found herself putting up a lunch and having the hot meal of her day at suppertime. This had irked her a good deal, for Mermaid would not merely walk but run two miles at play. The girl refused outright31 to wear to school a man’s old coat fixed32 over as a jacket. She was as contrary as possible, it seemed to Keturah, about her clothes. After repeated quarrels on the subject, in the last of which Mermaid had threatened to appeal to her Dad the next time he came over from the beach, Miss Smiley gave in. For it[63] was true that her brother gave her money to clothe the child, and she knew him well enough to know that he would make her account for every cent of it. Keturah Smiley was strictly33 honest, but it galled34 her to put money on any one’s back. She would not even buy a mustard plaster, though she would buy those mustard plasters which went by the name of first mortgages—when she could get them sufficiently35 cheap. But she did not starve the girl; she set a good table. She was stingy with money and affection, but not with food and principles.
In three years she had come to respect her brother’s adopted daughter, and sometimes to wonder where the girl got her firmness of character and general good humour. Keturah had never seen her in tears. Once, when she had been so angered as to lift her hand with a threat to strike Mermaid, the girl, without wincing36, had said quietly:
“If you hit me I’ll go away.”
She had not said she would tell her father. She had never, in any of their disputes, threatened to appeal to Cap’n Smiley except in the long dispute about what she should have to wear. And she had explained that at the time by saying: “It’s only that Dad is buying them. If he says you’re right, that’ll settle it.”
Keturah never reopened the argument. She put the money in the girl’s hand.
“All right, Missy, spend the last cent and wear ribbons!”
[64]But Mermaid had insisted on Miss Smiley’s going with her to the shop, and had followed her advice on the quality of the goods, which Keturah shredded37 with her fingers along the selvage and bit, a thread at a time, with her very sound (and very own) teeth. Mermaid had then made her own selection of styles and patterns, and on the way home had handed Keturah $5 with the remark: “Will you send that to the savings38 bank in Patchogue for me?”
“It might have been twice as much,” was Keturah’s only remark.
“And it might have been twice as little. And I might be half as happy,” Mermaid exclaimed. “Would you be twice as happy if you had twice as much money, Miss Smiley?”
“I’d be willing to try and find out,” said Keturah, sententiously.
Mermaid looked at her speculatively39. “If there’s a chance of it, I’ll help you all I can to get rich!” she declared with so much seriousness that Keturah was uncertain how to take her, and so took her in silence.
Probably Mermaid’s words were not really so ironical40 as they sounded. The girl was generally in earnest when she was not plainly in fun; as children usually are. She had only the vaguest notion of Miss Smiley’s means, and a very vivid notion of her money-stinting ways; Mermaid, however, liked her Dad’s sister in[65] spite of the difficulties of living with her. Miss Smiley was “square” for all her harshness and even hardness; she said cutting things which were, however, never mean, and seldom really unkind. She could be wrathful, but she did not sneer41, and she had only scorn for those who sneered42 at her. Very little mercy, but a rigid43 adherence44 to what she thought just, distinguished45 Keturah in the girl’s eyes. And no one, Mermaid concluded, could live with Miss Smiley and not be struck by the fact that she was thoroughly46 unhappy. What would make her happy Mermaid had not the least idea; but if the child could have given it to the woman she would have done it, even at some cost to herself. For she was a generous child and she felt generosity47 all about her, guarding her, befriending her, helping48 her. Her Dad’s and her uncles’ liberality to her always touched her heart. She knew now, at the age of eleven, that her Dad was not really her Dad and that her uncles were not related to her by blood or marriage. She knew she was a nameless child of unknown lineage, washed ashore49 from the wreck50 of the ship by whose name she was known. Everyone except Miss Smiley called her Mermaid; Miss Smiley called her Mary when she called her by name at all, or “Missy,” when Mermaid had irritated her. From the first the girl had called the woman Miss Smiley; it had never occurred to her to address her as “Aunt Keturah,” and no one, not even her Dad, had suggested it.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
mermaid
|
|
| n.美人鱼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
accentuated
|
|
| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
freckles
|
|
| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
seamen
|
|
| n.海员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
mariner
|
|
| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
cove
|
|
| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
lone
|
|
| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
adoption
|
|
| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
amicably
|
|
| adv.友善地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
shutters
|
|
| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
rusted
|
|
| v.（使）生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
reassured
|
|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
conspiring
|
|
| 密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
prank
|
|
| n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
profane
|
|
| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
tickled
|
|
| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
controversy
|
|
| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
bleak
|
|
| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
grudging
|
|
| adj.勉强的，吝啬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
liking
|
|
| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
conversational
|
|
| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
faculty
|
|
| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
duels
|
|
| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
streak
|
|
| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
obstinacy
|
|
| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
recess
|
|
| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
outright
|
|
| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
strictly
|
|
| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
galled
|
|
| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
wincing
|
|
| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
shredded
|
|
| shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
savings
|
|
| n.存款，储蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
speculatively
|
|
| adv.思考地，思索地；投机地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
ironical
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
sneer
|
|
| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
sneered
|
|
| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
rigid
|
|
| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
adherence
|
|
| n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
generosity
|
|
| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
wreck
|
|
| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |